Tweet Any Good Books Lately?

Explore the world of Twitter book clubs and the spirited, if short-winded, discussions they spark

By

Laura Moser

Updated March 29, 2013 12:57 p.m. ET

IF THERE'S ONE THING I like more than reading books, it's sharing my opinions about them. But I'm too overscheduled and disorganized to commit to a book club. So when I heard about the phenomenon of Twitter book clubs—online literary discussions where observations and insights must adhere to Twitter's 140-character limit—I was intrigued. Low effort, laid back and cheaper than shelling out for a babysitter the fourth Thursday of every month, they seemed a perfect match for my current lifestyle.

WSJ Off Duty editor Michael Hsu joins looks at Twitter book clubs and the spirited, if terse, discussion they spark.

There are only a few active book clubs on Twitter: Penguin hosts one, as does the Jewish Book Council. The clubs have different guidelines and formats, but most put forth a title for discussion that takes place on Twitter at a specific time. Because I couldn't commit to being in front of my computer at any given time, I went with the Atlantic magazine's 1book140, which is nearly two years old and now has more than 84,000 followers (although only a handful actively participate). I also liked the democratic chaos of the largely unmoderated discussions.

#Tutorial

The rules are simple: Each month, members nominate a book by tweeting suggestions in a specific genre. A shortlist is put to a vote (via tweet, of course), a winner declared and the reading schedule published with a week-to-week hashtag guide. Unlike an in-person book club, where you usually show up after having finished the book, on 1book140 you tweet your thoughts chapter by chapter.

In February, when I joined, the genre of the month was young-adult fiction. John Green's blockbuster "The Fault in Our Stars," about two teenagers with terminal cancer who fall in love, beat out classics like Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War" and Judy Blume's "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret." (In April, the club will read "The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry.")

#DiveIn

Maybe I'm just too old, but interacting with strangers online doesn't come naturally to me. Still, I wanted to participate in 1book140, not just lurk, so I summoned the courage to tweet my entry onto the scene: "Is it too late to start this month? Better to begin on the 1st? How does it work?"

‘It quickly got personal, but never the least bit ornery.’

I immediately received a welcoming reply, along with a link to the schedule and an overview of how 1book140 works. "I learned Twitter when I began the group," @jompoi tweeted when I admitted my ineptitude. "You can ask Twitter questions. It's a great group & others will help."

ENLARGE

Koren Shadmi for The Wall Street Journal

#Addicted

As I got into the book, I found myself checking in with the club regularly: in line at the grocery store, waiting outside my son's classroom, during those all-too-rare moments on the elliptical at the gym. Participants loved swapping favorite quotations, and I'd often pause to mull over lines I'd blown through in my own reading (though I wasn't sold on the crowd's enthusiasm for "the existence of broccoli does not, in any way, affect the taste of chocolate").

#IsThereAnybodyOutThere

By week three, I felt ready to join the discussion. Although I was enjoying the book, lack of variation among the characters' voices irritated me. I tweeted accordingly: "Sucked in, and yet: too many characters are unconvincingly identical in wit, self-awareness…Does anyone else find?"

Nobody else found. Or at least nobody else responded. Which was depressing. Kind of like posting a picture of your baby on Facebook and attracting zero likes (not that this has ever happened to me).

The more I read, the more annoyed I became, so I tried again: "Reminds me of Aaron Sorkin's issue. The characters all speak in their creator's too-clever voice, not their own. Wearying." This time: success! I received a reply from @meilufay, a writer in Idaho, whose astute observations had already made her one of my favorite participants. Tweeting back and forth about Mr. Green's lapses into preciousness was exactly the type of low-key literary experience I was looking for.

#Assessment

I could have done with more debates and fewer quotations, which is not to say there weren't some meaningful moments along the way: A reader with a chronic illness launched a discussion about the "culture" of sick people and whether society as a whole marginalizes them. It quickly got personal, but never the least bit ornery.

By the end of the month, I felt vaguely acquainted with the club's most active participants. It helped that there weren't all that many of them. I'd estimate no more than 20 people tweeted along with the schedule.

But so what? For me, 1book140 was more enjoyable for its intimacy. Most of all, I liked how nice everyone was. So often the Internet is a place of derision and insult. But on 1book140, participants respected one another without having to be told to be nice.

Sure, I wouldn't have minded more in-depth discussion, but book clubs have never been confused with postgraduate seminars on Metonymy in Early Shakespeare. They're about quiche and Chardonnay, and most of all about camaraderie. And 1book140 has that in spades.

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